Movie reviews, big and small, for anything that has passed before my eyes.

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Father Of The Bride Part II (1995)

Although it's not a direct remake of Father's Little Dividend, this sequel features a number of situations and gags that will be familiar to fans of the 1951 movie.

Time has been passing pleasantly enough for the Banks family ever since the marriage of daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams) to the love of her life, Brian (George Newbern). George (Steve Martin) and Nina Banks (Diane Keaton) have settled into a happy routine, with the former looking forward to the day when he can completely relax. Young Matty Banks (Kieran Culkin) will be heading off to college a few years down the line and there won't be any more children to worry about. Of course, that all changes when Annie announces that she's pregnant. It changes even more when Nina announces the same thing. George suddenly feels every year of his age weighing down upon him and has a crisis of confidence (as well as a fleeting mid-life crisis which leads to him dying his hair and driving a sports car for one or two scenes).

There's no denying that this is a lesser movie, as sequels so often are, but there's an easygoing familiarity to it all that helps make it a harmless time-waster. The characters haven't changed all that much, the journey that they all go on is very similiar to the journey that we saw them go on in the preceding movie and there's a fun cameo from Eugene Levy (who also appeared in Father Of The Bride as a potential wedding singer). These may seem like flimsy reasons to enjoy the movie, and they are, but I don't think that any viewers expected anything weightier from a safe sequel to a safe remake of a family comedy.

Many of the people return to their main roles behind the scenes. Charles Shyer once again directs with a lack of flair, Nancy Meyers helps once more in the script department (with help from the material written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett) and it's obvious that this is very much a case of everyone getting back together and falling into comfortable roles. In front of the cameras, Martin Short steals his scenes again, while Martin, Keaton, Williams and Newbern all do just fine.

For viewers, however, familiarity may breed some contempt. If you liked the 1991 movie then you're unlikely to hate this one, but it's never going to be a favourite either.